The legal representatives for former SABC Chief Operations Officer Hlaudi Motsoeneng have told the Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA) in Bloemfontein that it was the prerogative of the SABC’s Governance and Nominations Committee to pay him a success fee for the multi-million contract he clinched with MultiChoice.
His submissions to the SCA are under severe scrutiny by Justice Visvanathan Ponnan.
Motsoeneng wants the SCA to reconsider its decision to deny his request to appeal an order by the Gauteng High Court in Johannesburg to repay the success fee bonus with interest.
Masuku explains, “It is the prerogative of the employer to decide how to reward employees who go beyond the call of their duty. We start there. So, what was SABC actually doing when they gave him this success fee, they looked at what he had done which is not disputed by the SABC. And they said you know given the financial status of the SABC, he has now established a private SABC as opposed to the public SABC. So, the public SABC is 1,2 and 3.”
Motsoeneng was the first SABC employee to be paid a success fee for going beyond the call of duty. Motsoeneng’s lawyers told the bench in the SCA that Motsoeneng started talks with MultiChoice prior to being appointed as COO and he did so in his personal capacity, to which the bench has asked whether Motsoeneng was running a private office within the SABC.
Justice Ponnan also questioned which policy was used to recommend such a payment to Motsoeneng.
